Studiesin

James Presentation 03

The Structure of the BookIntroduction and Trials in the Christian Life (1: 1-8)Happiness in our Circumstances(1: 9-11)Trial, Temptation and Gift (1: 12-18)Hindrances to Fruitfulness(1: 19-21)Doers and Hearers (1: 22-25)True Religion (1: 26-27)Favouritism (2: 1-7)The Royal Law (2: 8-12a)Showing Mercy (2.12b-13]Faith and Works (2:14-26)Teachers and the Tongue (3: 1-12)True and False Wisdom, (3: 13-17)Peacemakers (3: 18)Defeat Through Lack of Submission(4: 1-6)Victory Through Submission(4: 7—10)Judging One Another (4: 11-12)Boasting of Tomorrow (4: 13-17) The Misuse of Wealth(5: 1-6)The Need of Patience (5: 7-12)Appropriate Responses (5:13-16)Restoring the Wanderer (5:17-20)

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Trial, Temptation and

GiftChap 1v 12-18

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IntroductionSome time ago an American minister who murdered both his wife and his girlfriend's husband said, “It was all God’s fault”. He argued that God had brought a pretty secretary into his life at just the time when he needed an understanding and supportive woman. He convinced himself that God intended his wife to die and he was to kill her. He and his secretary then began to pray that the secretary’s husband might meet with a fatal accident and so they could marry. But no accidents took place. They concluded that God intended them to murder the husband.

Throughout this whole process the minister refused to take any responsibility for his actions. When he was caught, tried and convicted, God was blamed for giving him such a pretty secretary. God often gets the blame for our sin. James says in v13, "when tempted no one should say, “God is tempting me””.

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Testing and TemptationJames purposefully distinguishes between trials and temptations. They come from two different sources. Trials are sent by God in order to make a person stand, temptations are sent by Satan in order to make them fall. In testing you, God is aiming at your development; in tempting you Satan is aiming at your disgrace. Just as testing is part of Christian experience, so too is temptation. Just as the Christian has no immunity from God's testing, so too, he has no immunity from Satan's temptations. Temptation is not something that lessens in Christian experience the more spiritually mature we become. “Satan watches to ensnare the morning thought. He does not depart with the shades of night...He is busy with the busy...He whispers by each bed of sickness and whispers into each dying ear.” Henry Law

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Responsibility for SinIs God to blame for our yielding to temptation? Man has an amazing capacity for rationalising his failures and excusing himself of responsibility. eg. "God created all things, so he must have created my evil impulses and therefore he is responsible for all the wrong I do." This was precisely the reaction of Adam in the Garden of Eden when confronted with his disobedience. He said defiantly to God, “The woman YOU put here with me - she gave me some of the fruit”. James defends God against that sort of thinking in two ways! First he says, God cannot be tempted by evil. His point is that if God did in fact tempt men to commit sin, God would himself have yielded to the temptation to do so. And it is inconceivable to suggest that God can fall into temptation for the whole character of God cries out against all that which is unholy.

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Responsibility for SinWe must not lose sight of the significance of this. Our Bibles describe the way in which sin devastatingly robs men of their power. When Samson broke his solemn vow, ‘wonderman’ became a ‘wimp’. When the disciples, who had been invested with the power of the kingdom, disobeyed God they were reduced from ‘men of wonders’ to ‘men of words’. Throughout the Bible we find that sin robs men of spiritual power. Now, and this is the important point, the sin which saps the Christian’s power can never touch his God! God is never weakened. He does not have "off days". He is never less than omnipotent. He is not tarnished by sin.

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Responsibility for SinSecondly, James tells us, “God does not tempt anyone”. God does sometimes place men in situations, that are potentially dangerous. He puts them in situations that are designed to try them and give them the opportunity to show their worth but he doesn't try to pull them down. One of the clearest examples of this is found at the beginning of Jesus public ministry. W read in Lk 4.1 “Jesus full of the Holy Spirit... was led by the Spirit into the desert where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil". The Father’s aim was not the defeat of his Son but the proving and strengthening of his resolve to be obedient to the cross.

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Responsibility for SinGod plans situations that will test us but he will never plan our downfall. God is not in the business of temptation. The blame lies closer at hand. cf. v14"Each one is tempted by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.“ The Bible teaches that "the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.”

The human heart is one of man's worst enemies. We read, "Man is dragged away and enticed.“ The Greek word translated 'dragged away' describes a wild animal lured out into the open. The word translated 'enticed' describes a fish attracted by the glint of a lure in the water. As it closes its mouth on the bait it discovers that it conceals a deadly hook. Inwardly man has the desire and potential for sin. Outwardly he is surrounded by enticements and temptations. The Tempter seeks to bind the two together. As long as man resists he is safe, but by allowing the outward attraction to occupy his mind, and stir his inward desire, the way is prepared for his fall into sin.

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Responsibility for SinJames changes his illustration in v15 where he describes an unholy marriage between inward desire and outward opportunity. It is at the precise moment, when the will joins the desire in yielding to the temptation that the sinful thought or action is conceived. Someone has said, “It takes two to make a successful temptation and you are one of the two.” Since that is so, man must bear the personal guilt involved, "And sin”, says James, "when it is full-grown gives birth to death". The inevitable conclusion of sin is death - the primary meaning of death here is separation from God. This is the terrible tragic conclusion to which all sin leads. The wages sin pays is death.

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God’s GiftMen deceive themselves if they think God is the author of temptation. If God doesn’t scheme to ruin our lives and pull us down, how then should we view him? James answers in v16, he is to be seen as the "Giver of every good and perfect gift." God isn't the source of evil but of everything which is good. James’ thinking moves from ‘sin’s wages’ to ‘heaven's gift’. It is described as ‘good and perfect’. The Greek word James uses is "teleion" it describes something which cannot be bettered. Although all of God's gifts are good and perfect, James has one particular gift in mind. It is described in v18 as "giving us birth through the word of truth". Cf. 1Pet 1.3"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

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God’s GiftNotice the language both writers use. They do not say that the Christian is merely spiritually improved or morally strengthened or that some sort of inherent goodness is fanned into flame. Something much more remarkable is in view. It is a spiritual birth. When Nicodemus a great Jewish teacher came to Jesus by night wanting to know how a man could be sure of eternal life Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Jn 3.3 God's greatest gift to man is the miracle of a spiritual birth. A completely new nature.

James tells us three things about it.

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God’s Gift1. It is God’s initiative: Its not something that man earns, or inherits, or something he forces God to give him. It is God’s initiative. The Christian’s salvation does not rest upon his choice of God, but upon God's choice of him [Jn. 15.9].Evangelistic preaching can place so much stress on our response and faith that people doubt their ability to hold onto God and make it to heaven. Now of course we need to respond to the gospel and commit our lives to Christ but having done that we need then to focus our attention upon God's hold of us. When a person becomes a Christian he does so through God's initiative, not without the preaching of the gospel, not without the sacrifice of Christ, not without repentance, not without faith but ultimately through God taking the first step towards him.

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God’s Gift2. It comes via the living word of God:"He chose to give us birth through the word of truth" v18i.e., through the proclamation of the gospel. We daren’t underestimate the potency of the Bible. Its proclamation forms the bridge across which God's choicest gift is brought into our hearts.

Just as Jesus could stand outside of the tomb of dead Lazarus and by his word of power call that dead man to rise from the dead, so too, he stands before spiritually dead men and women and through his powerful word calls them to spiritual life, to a spiritual rebirth. This is why the preached word of God is so important. When James thinks of all the good and perfect gifts of God, it is on this gift that he concentrates our attention upon.

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God’s Gift3. It is an Empowering Gift:The new birth leads to new behaviour. It is given "that we might a kind of firstfruits”. The firstfruits constituted a very special part of the harvest which Israel set apart for God in a particular way. Similarly the Christian has been set apart for God and empowered to be different. Then God looks to see if that difference is evident in his life. Illustration: A new minister was given the gift of a lawnmower by his congregation to empower him to cut his grass. They then have certain expectations . They would be disappointed if they visited and discovered he had never used their gift!

The Christian is empowered by God with new spiritual life. And God looks to see if that life bears the fruit he has empowered it to bear. We must not disappoint him.

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ConclusionWhat God values most in all creation is enjoying a living loving relationship with mankind. Man’s sin has destroyed that relationship. By responding to temptation we dig our own graves. God does not assist in that his goal is not our destruction. Indeed ,it is the very opposite. God’s gift is a new nature - the indwelling Christ. And his indwelling strengthens the believer against temptation enabling him to say ‘No’ and to stand firm.

God does not want us to confuse an umbrella for a parachute. He does not want us walk through life with a counterfeit salvation tucked under our arm only to discover, when it is too late, that we do not possess the real thing. He does not tempt us he tests us in order to prove to us whether or not we possess what we profess, the new birth which is the greatest of all his gifts. Are we possessors?

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